Sitspark

← All guides

How to stop puppy biting: a 3-day plan

Puppies explore with their mouths and bite hardest when they are tired or over-excited. It is normal, and it passes faster with one calm rule: teeth on skin ends the game.

  1. Have a toy in your hand before you play

    Offer the toy the moment the mouth opens. Praise when teeth land on the toy.

  2. Teeth on skin: play stops

    Go still, take your hands away and look away for five seconds. No shouting and no pushing; both feel like more play.

  3. Start again, calmly

    Offer the toy and carry on. Ten short repeats teach more than one long telling-off.

  4. If the biting ramps up, your puppy needs sleep

    Puppies need 18 to 20 hours of sleep a day. A quiet nap in the crate or pen usually ends the 'witching hour'.

  5. Everyone at home does the same

    The rule only works when every hand follows it, children included.

By breed group. Terrier and herding puppies bite and chase more: keep games short and stop early. Gun dogs like to carry: give them something to hold when visitors arrive.

Growling, snapping or biting that breaks skin in an older dog is different: see a certified force-free trainer or a veterinary behaviourist.

In Sitspark this sits in Puppy Essentials, with a step player that reads each step aloud while your hands are busy. The first class and the first lesson of every class are free, with no account.

Download on the App Store